The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Friends Action Network is a grassroots network of faculty, students, staff, alumni and community members committed to building public support for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system's annual legislative requests.

Minnesota State Legislature - What"s New

The Chronicle (February 2009): An internal newsletter for the Office of the Chancellor

Friday, April 17, 2009

Yesterday at the CapitolSenate Higher Education Committee forwards nominations for Board of Trustees to full Senate for confirmationThe Senate Higher Education Budget and Policy Division forwarded the names of Cheryl Dickson, Jacob Englund, Clarence Hightower, Allyson Lueneburg, Louise Sundin and Terri Thomas to the full Senate for confirmation of their appointment to the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board of Trustees. After introductions and background comments, trustees in attendance responded to a variety of questions related to access, affordability, tuition, campus locations and the current budget situation.

Senate Higher Education bill heads to the floorThe Senate Finance committee took up the higher education omnibus bill yesterday. Sen. Sandy Pappas, DFL-St. Paul, the author of SF 2083, explained the bill to committee members. Members adopted amendments including deleting farm and small business management and Northeast Higher Education District/Range vocational education from the list of priority allocations to be reviewed by the Board. Another amendment adopted by the committee requires the Office of Higher Education and the Dept. of Education to report on best practices in innovative teacher education programs and teacher education research. The omnibus bill was approved as amended and sent to the Rules and Administration Committee because of a provision requiring the appointment of Legislators to the P-20 Education Partnership. Rules Committee adopted an amendment yesterday afternoon providing a 2013 sunset for the partnership and advanced the bill to the full Senate. The bill will be taken up on the Senate floor at 11:30 today.